Institutionalization of Oralism
Although oralism was successfully institutionalized in 1867, this was not the first time period in which it was introduced as an alternative to educating deaf individuals.
In 1812, an individual named John Braidwood traveled to America with the objective of establishing a deaf school similar to that of his grandfather in Great Britain, which had been successful. This school was based on the oral method, and this is exactly what Braidwood planned to do in America. However, this first attempt of introducing the oral method to America was a failure because Braidwood faced financial difficulties due to dissipation and this lead to him having issues with individuals whom he had borrowed money from.
In 1812, an individual named John Braidwood traveled to America with the objective of establishing a deaf school similar to that of his grandfather in Great Britain, which had been successful. This school was based on the oral method, and this is exactly what Braidwood planned to do in America. However, this first attempt of introducing the oral method to America was a failure because Braidwood faced financial difficulties due to dissipation and this lead to him having issues with individuals whom he had borrowed money from.
In 1867, Clarke School at Northampton, the first deaf school that educated deaf individuals through the oral method was established. This school came to be because of the Hubbard family that had a deaf child, named Mabel, and most of the deaf schools taught sign language from a foreign country, such as from France. Additionally, there were no deaf schools that began teaching children at the early age at which their daughter was at that time. The Hubbards did not want their daughter to become a deaf-mute child so Mrs. Hubbard took it upon herself to educate her daughter through the oral method. The Hubbard’s daughter was born hearing and lost her hearing at the age of four, so she had a bit of an advantage when it came to learning to produce oral speech. Because of Mabel Hubbard’s success, a movement towards the implementation of the oral method in deaf schools began. Legislation took place and in 1867, Clarke School at Northampton was successfully established in Massachusetts. (Side note: Mable Hubbard later became Alexander Graham Bell’s wife). This led to a debate in what method was the best approach to educating deaf individuals - either the oral method, or through the use of sign language.
The success of Clarke School lead to a greater demand of articulation teachers in deaf schools.
Deaf schools that focused on sign language were now beginning to incorporate the oral method. There were some schools that adapted to the oral method and did not allow the use of sign language. After more deaf schools that incorporated the oral method into their teaching of the
deaf community came into existence, conventions were held for articulation teachers and
principals of these schools to meet. There were two conventions held in 1874 that initially targeted teachers who taught the Melville-Bell symbols, a concept that was previously discussed in this website. The second convention then was opened to all articulation instructors, regardless of whether they imposed the Melville-Bell symbols or not. Conventions then expanded to include teachers and principals from all deaf schools, whether they taught the oral method or not. In 1886, a convention was held in California that declared that every deaf school should focus on teaching individuals to speak and read lips. In 1890, the convention was held in New York that contained an oral section which promoted articulation teaching. This was targeted towards teachers who met outside the times of the convention to discuss their experiences in imposing the oral method on the deaf community. Keep in mind that at this time, there was a debate on whether the oral method or sign language was the best approach to educating the deaf community and these conventions began to sway in a certain direction…
As shown in the chart below, you can see that from the year 1904 to 1917 the percentage of deaf schools that incorporated either wholly, or partially, the oral method increased from 33% to 63.4% (Graham Bell n.d.).
Deaf schools that focused on sign language were now beginning to incorporate the oral method. There were some schools that adapted to the oral method and did not allow the use of sign language. After more deaf schools that incorporated the oral method into their teaching of the
deaf community came into existence, conventions were held for articulation teachers and
principals of these schools to meet. There were two conventions held in 1874 that initially targeted teachers who taught the Melville-Bell symbols, a concept that was previously discussed in this website. The second convention then was opened to all articulation instructors, regardless of whether they imposed the Melville-Bell symbols or not. Conventions then expanded to include teachers and principals from all deaf schools, whether they taught the oral method or not. In 1886, a convention was held in California that declared that every deaf school should focus on teaching individuals to speak and read lips. In 1890, the convention was held in New York that contained an oral section which promoted articulation teaching. This was targeted towards teachers who met outside the times of the convention to discuss their experiences in imposing the oral method on the deaf community. Keep in mind that at this time, there was a debate on whether the oral method or sign language was the best approach to educating the deaf community and these conventions began to sway in a certain direction…
As shown in the chart below, you can see that from the year 1904 to 1917 the percentage of deaf schools that incorporated either wholly, or partially, the oral method increased from 33% to 63.4% (Graham Bell n.d.).
*Although there are few statistics prior to 1904, they were not reliable, due to poor syntax of the the questions asked in the surveys.